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POSTGRADUATE ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS …

1 | Page POSTGRADUATE ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE ENGINEERING AND technology (CSET) PART A: DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS 1. PREAMBLE There is a countrywide awareness in the South African scientific community that much will have to be done to ensure that sufficient South African citizens qualify with higher degrees in order to meet the country s future demands. In their groundbreaking evidence-based report on PhD studies in South Africa, the Academy of Sciences of South Africa highlights a number of primary barriers that hinder increased throughput of PhD students.

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Transcription of POSTGRADUATE ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS …

1 1 | Page POSTGRADUATE ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COLLEGE OF SCIENCE ENGINEERING AND technology (CSET) PART A: DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS 1. PREAMBLE There is a countrywide awareness in the South African scientific community that much will have to be done to ensure that sufficient South African citizens qualify with higher degrees in order to meet the country s future demands. In their groundbreaking evidence-based report on PhD studies in South Africa, the Academy of Sciences of South Africa highlights a number of primary barriers that hinder increased throughput of PhD students.

2 Some of these barriers are actually within the control of tertiary institutions. These include the quality of incoming students and blockages in the graduate and POSTGRADUATE pipeline , and limited supervisory capacity . In addition, the report finds that a significant percentage of students (50%) select a programme (and therefore the associated institution) on the basis of a specific research focus. There is a strong momentum currently in the university to examine policy, procedures and processes associated with higher degrees in order to ensure optimal throughput of students electing to do their master s or doctoral degrees with the university.

3 The adoption of the new Master s and Doctoral Policy and Processes and accompanying narrative documents during the March 2013 session of the Unisa Senate marks a significant milestone in this regard. Although the ongoing overall process reviews are holistic and encompass all aspects of Unisa s offerings to POSTGRADUATE students, the current document contains information required by the approved Narrative document for Unisa master s and doctoral processes on three aspects that links closely to the findings of the ASSAf report. These are: Entrance REQUIREMENTS for students in the College of Science Engineering and technology (in order to ensure that the quality of incoming students are such that they have an optimal change of completing their qualifications); Showing specific research focus areas in the college where there is supervisory capacity, which facilitates the choice for students in term of the focus of specific programmes and projects and ensures that available supervisory capacity is not exceeded.

4 2. HISTORICAL TRENDS CSET POSTGRADUATE enrolment trends Overall enrolment patterns in CSET have shown exponential growth especially in the past three years. These growth patterns are as follows: Table 1: Numbers of students registered for masters and doctoral degrees in CSET: 2005 - 2015 Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 No. M registrations 88 86 81 76 93 128 169 293 343 322 325 No D registrations 32 34 33 39 65 89 126 199 226 235 268 Total 120 120 114 115 158 217 295 492 569 557 593 2 | Page registrations For higher degree registrations the percentage growth for the College was as follows: Table 2: Percentage growth in registrations for higher degrees in CSET.

5 2006 - 2015 Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 MSc growth -2 -6 -6 22 38 32 73 17 -6 1 PhD growth 6 -3 18 67 37 42 58 14 4 14 CSET overall 0 -5 1 37 37 36 67 16 -2 6 Historical trends for CSET show an strong overall increase in growth since 2009, which has exceeded strategic targets, and which has led to certain research areas in CSET (notably many areas within the School of Computing) reaching supervisory capacity. The implementation of the new Unisa M&D policy and procedures have brought growth to more manageable numbers. CSET graduation trends Graduation trends over the past three years are as follows: Table 3.

6 Graduation trends in CSET 2011 - 2014 Year 2011 2012 2013 2014 M graduations 11 9 7 28 M growth (%) -18 -22 400 D graduations 2 2 10 15 D growth (%) 0 400 50 Overall graduations 13 11 17 43 Overall growth (%) -15 55 253 These graduation rates, although encouraging in terms of overall growth are from a very low base, and compared to high numbers of registrations highlight the concern that more needs to be done in order to ensure that the entire POSTGRADUATE process from ADMISSION to graduation is optimized to ensure maximal POSTGRADUATE throughput. 3. PROJECTIONS (UNTIL 2017) Projections of estimated growth until 2017 are shown below.

7 Factors impacting on growth are the following: (1) School of Computing (SOC) has reached capacity and the backlog of students still needing to be assigned supervisors mean that further growth in numbers will be limited to enrolment in specialized niche areas in SOC; (2) M&D programmes for School of Engineering (SOE) are not envisaged to commence in the near future and growth trends are expected to be in line with trends over the past three years; (3) The new laboratories available on the Science campus will be attractive for prospective students in School of Science (SOS), and combined with the need for POSTGRADUATE students to support the research 3 | Page activities of the three research chairs in SOS some growth in POSTGRADUATE students in science is expected to be maintained.

8 However, given the specialized nature of these areas in science growth is expected to be limited. Growth in CSET in general needs to be strongly encouraged to support Unisa s vision of the Florida campus becoming a regional science hub. (4) The establishment of the two new research units in CSET: Material and Process Synthesis and Nanotechnology for Water Sustainability. Table 4: Projected registrations for higher degrees in CSET (up to 2017) Year 2015 2016 2017 Projected M registrations 328 344 361 Projected M growth (%) 5 5 Projected D registrations 270 284 298 Projected D growth (%) 5 5 Projected overall registrations 598 628 659 Projected overall growth (%) 0 2 5 4.

9 CURRENT STATUS There is a real need in CSET to take strong measures to improve the throughput of master s and doctoral students, as the number of students graduating (although growing strongly from a low based) still compares poorly to the overall number of registrations. The admissions criteria set out in this document forms part of these measures, but ultimately the entire chain of events from application to graduation will be revised, which is in line with the activities undertaken on a university-wide scale by Unisa under the leadership of the College for Graduate Studies (CGS).

10 Currently the status regarding higher degrees studies in CSET is as follows. The exponential growth of students registering for masters and doctoral degrees in Computing has resulted in the School of Computing reaching its supervisory capacity. Only limited spaces in niche areas remain, and given current Unisa initiatives to advertise these niche areas, a small growth in POSTGRADUATE student numbers in SOC may be expected. Given the specialized nature of ICT at POSTGRADUATE level, the limit has also largely been reached in terms of engaging external supervisory capacity.


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